Aug 29, 2011

A deliciously healthy cupcake made with whole wheat flour, fruit, vegetables and dairy... what's not to love?!

I had a zucchini lying around with no real plans for it and I thought, why not make cupcakes! These cupcakes were a huge hit with my friends and neighbors, including my 20 month old. Cupcake is her new favorite word!

If you make them, it's important to squeeze the excess liquid from the pineapple and zucchini so they cook properly in the middle. You can pipe the frosting with a pastry bag, or simply put it in a zip-lock bag and cut the corner to make your own disposable pastry bag. If you like a lot of frosting on top, you may want to make a little extra, however points will increase.

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, coconut, baking soda, salt, and spices; stir well with a whisk.

In a medium bowl, combine oil, eggs, and vanilla; stir well. Add grated zucchini and pineapple; mix well. Fold wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, batter will be stiff and dry but keep folding it and it will all come together.

Spoon batter into cupcake tin. Bake at 350° for about 23 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

To prepare frosting, beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spread or pipe frosting over the cupcakes once they are cooled. You can garnish with chopped pecans or walnuts, if desired (extra points).

YUMM!! I have made your pineapple zucchini cake in the past and it was amazing - so I will definitely have to make these cupcakes soon! I have been baking a lot with zucchini lately and I just love it! Yesterday I made the most amazing oatmeal zucchini chocolate chip cookies! And your zucchini bread also, delicious way to eat veggies and use up garden zucchini. Thanks for all the great recipes Gina, you're the best!Hope you and your family weren't affected too bad by the hurricane yesterday, I know you're in LI and they got hit pretty badly =/

Dana, thank you for asking! Luckily although I was in an evacuation zone, I had no damage or power loss, Thank God! Had some family staying with me who live closer to the ocean, we made the best of it!

These looks so yummy!!! I'm really glad that it's finally starting to cool off so I can make a LOT more. My mouth is watering as I look at this picture. I think I'll be making these Saturday....tomorrow I'm making WWP+ chocolate souffles for just 4 points!! I definitely don't feel deprived on this diet!

Hi Gina,can i use applesauce instead of the coconut oil? and egg whites instead of eggs? do you happen to know the PP value if I do? LOVE your recipes! I make them for co-workers bdays and they are always a hit! We are all on WW, so thank you, thank you, thank you! Keep up the great work! :)

Woah. People say this all the time, but I'm making this this week. Like, as soon as I get paid and my empty college pockets are filled. Pineapple and zucchini? I love them both- never thought to use them together! And low fat too!

I just made these and tried one...It was DELICIOUS!!!! My 21 month old daughter had one minus the icing and kept asking for more.Hahaha I have been trying to lose the baby weight from my 9 month old and I have been using a LOT of your recipes for the last couple of months and have loved them all. Thank you so much for tasty recipes that me and my husband can both enjoy.

Wow!! Yummy! Thanks Gina for your blog! I am always coming here with the question "What's for dinner?" The answer is always here! These cupcakes were husband approved! He was even surprised after eating them I told him that they were healthy! thanks for helping me stay on plan and enjoy food at the same time!

Another winner! These were really great. I was shooting for muffin rather than cupcake so only used 3/4c sugar, double vanilla, plus 1/2 cup walnuts in the batter. Could use more or less sugar depending on your sweetness desires. I also used less sugar (2/3c) in the frosting. Perfect use for a monster, mutant zucchini from the garden. I also used my vegan cream cheese in the frosting and it turned out yummy.

Gina, just thought you should know that this recipe has the thumbs up of kindergarteners. I've baked this recipe with small groups in the classroom for the past two days, minus the frosting and they have all loved it. They loved seeing all the different ingredients that were going into their cupcakes. Thanks so much for the great recipes! :)

I made these the other night for dinner with friends. My dad (a skinny-minny) sneered at them and said he doubted he'd care for them, what with the pineapple and the "diet" angle. He ate one anyway and looked chagrined when he asked for another "pretty please."

Notes: I thought mine came out a little salty and will reduce it by 1/3 next time. I used only 2/3 c powdered sugar in the icing, and nobody minded at all. YUM.

I'm excited to try these. I'm making them for my hubby for Father's Day. I just wanted to let you know that all of the ingredients don't show up in the printer friendly version- just the incredients for the frosting.

I made the cake the other week and was blown away. Just like an old family recipe for zucchini pineapple bread that's really unhealthy due to lots of oil. I wanted to make these for my son's first birthday minus the frosting (and call them muffins). Is there a reason you decreased the oil from the cake to the cupcake?

I only got 12 cupcakes out of my batter. I wonder if I squeezed my pineapple a little too much. I used a mesh strainer and really squeezed out the pineapple and the zucchini. I measured the zucchini before squeezing, not sure if that was correct. I'm sure they'll still be great!

These are delicious! Love them...but I didn't spray the paper muffin cups before baking, and the cupcakes/muffins stuck to the paper. No big deal...but just thought I'd tell people they should spray them. Don't want to miss an ounce of these great cupcakes!

I've made several recipes from your site that I knew couldn't really be all that terrible even if I didn't like how they ended up. I do believe this takes the 'cake'!!! It is pure genius and I will be making these more often to satisfy my severe sweet tooth! I left out 1/2 cup powdered sugar in the icing to save some precious calories lol. These were delicious and even got the approval of my extremely picky, very skeptical boyfriend! Thank you for cooking healthy and sharing the recipes!

I love this recipe! I made it several times last year when my zucchini is in abundance. My 5yr old is now gluten free so I used Pamela's mix for the flour and baking soda otherwise I followed this recipe and baked 30-35 min. It came out great!!

Thank you for your site that I came across on Pinterest this past year! We have enjoyed all of your recipes! I made these muffins with my own GF AP flour, 1/2 cup of the sugar, and added 1 tsp of maple flavored extract in addition to the vanilla. Texture and taste was great! My family did not know it was GF!After the first day, it was best to place in microwave at 80% power for 15 seconds. Thank you again for your site Gina!